


Across the Room

by writerindark



Category: Veep (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 03:43:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11199765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerindark/pseuds/writerindark
Summary: I wrote a thing... this is based off a little anon prompt I sent a while ago.I was inspired by that short sequence in Deathly Hallows Part 1 when Hermione walks into the wedding tent in a red dress and Ron looks at her, with heart eyes, from afar - one of my favorite scenes, so subtle and beautiful and telling. For this reason, I feel it might be better conveyed visually, but I couldn't get it out of my head, so here it is. Anyways, enjoy!





	Across the Room

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.  
It wasn’t supposed to happen at all.

Unrequited love was a fool’s game, and Dan was certainly not a player- at least, not in that sense. He was always a man to go after what he wanted, ruthless in his ambitions and without hesitation. An endless string of women was simply the means to an end, each conquest no more than a rung on the ladder to success.

He stood in the corner of the ballroom, countless bodies fileing in for another meaningless function, all dressed to the nines. His own tuxedo clung uncomfortably tight against his skin, so similar yet foreign to his everyday business suit. Senators, diplomats, and socialites alike danced and mingled around him as he stared down at his phone.

The event at hand, an annual charity ball, was standard attendance for anyone who was anyone in Washington, Selina’s team included. Dan had attended for the past few years and regarded it as just another sly networking event masquerading as an innocent shindig. Women in flashy, colorful gowns with fake smiles plastered on their made-up faces, aging men with whimsical handkerchiefs and secret agendas twirling on the dancefloor. He’d mastered those skills, no longer intimidated by the politicking of his peers. This was his armor: a biting tongue, a constant sneer, a cynical outlook. Nothing, and no one, could touch him.

A hush fell over the packed room as Selina waltzed in, Gary dutifully holding the train of her show-stopping dress: a slinky, blood red number laced with gold jewels. Dan realized he should probably be beside her, but he had to arrive early to the venue to scope out her imminent networking for the evening. As guests greeted her, she disappeared into the throng of partygoers, surely fielding off a slew of questions he would have to deal with later.

His eyes slowly drifted back down to his phone, until a new figure emerged in the doorway where the veep had stood triumphantly just a minute before.

His heart stopped, just for a second.

Amy appeared, instantly scanning the room, in a simple black gown - no frills or embellishments, only a stark, stunning silhouette beneath the soft lighting above her head. Her hair hung loose and golden, more tousled than her usually pin-straight locks. Her face was fresh and practically bare, with a flush to her cheeks that could have been natural.

No one accompanied her. No one ran up to kiss her on the cheek, or to take her hand in greeting. And in that moment, he thought that perhaps he should have.  
She stood in solitude, with a solid beauty Dan hadn’t noticed before. His mind, a minute ago racing with plans of hollow conversation, went suddenly blank, stunned by her presence. His jaw clenched.

Had she seen him staring like an idiot from across the room? He would have to formulate some excuse or sarcastic remark to explain his dazed, hopeless expression. Surely she had noticed. But why would she ever notice him?

Dan saw her eyes lock on a Congressman she must have had business with. She marched toward him with an ease that he always impressed him and vanished into the crowd.

How long that moment lasted, he didn’t know. Amy, who he admired so but would never admit it. Amy, who he taunted and sparred with every day. Amy, who had just walked in and taken his breath away unwittingly, with her gorgeous black dress against a sea of outlandish color.

This was a feeling he hadn’t known before.  
But, in that one, glorious moment, he did.


End file.
